An engaging, scruffy collection of musical misfits, the ethos of seven-piece Reel Big Fish is immediately apparent from their punning name and rampaging, good-time ska music. The band was formed in Huntington Beach, California, USA, in the early 90s …

One of the burgeoning army of American punk/ska bands to gain success in the wake of Rancid and the Dropkick Murphys' breakthrough, Los Angeles' Less Than Jake are led by singer Chris Demakes. The band was founded in Gainesville, Florida in 1992 by D…

The seeds of Rancid were in the influential early-'90s Californian punk-ska outfit Operation Ivy. Two members of Ivy persevered to form a band that more explicitly nodded to their roots in vintage punk. Heavily influenced by the Clash, Rancid took th…

Goldfinger sprang from a new wave of ska-punk bands formed in California, USA, in the wake of Green Day and the Offspring's international breakthrough. Based in Los Angeles, Goldfinger blend elements of ska and punk (a la Rancid and Reel Big Fish) wi…

Long Beach County skate-rockers Sublime played an infectious mix of ska, punk, hip-hop, and acoustic music that earned them both a devoted underground following and mainstream success during their run in the mid-1990s. Sublime were proud purveyors of…

Since forming in 1991 Mustard Plug has established itself as one of the hardest-working independent bands The Grand Rapids Michigan-based group with the help of its label the California indie ska-punk outfit Hopeless Records repeatedly tours the Unit…

California skate-punk trio Blink 182 employed a snappy mix of punk-pop and humor that appealed to a whole new generation of rock fans too young to have fully appreciated Green Day's initial impact. These third- (or fourth-) generation punks became th…

Nirvana finally made it acceptable for U.S. top-40 fans to embrace punk rock, and bands like Green Day and the Offspring followed up the charts in their wake. While California's Offspring had been slugging it out since the late-'80s, it wasn't until …

A zany eight-piece or more ska unit from the bleached-out California coast Aquabats earned respect for an energized new wave of ska-punk from figures ranging from Courtney Love to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Squirrel Nut Zippers Apparently led by…

Coming out of the grass-roots Gilman St. punk scene of the early-1990s Bay Area, Green Day exploded into the mainstream with their third album, 1994's DOOKIE. The trio's punk energy and pop hooks, influenced by first-generation punks like the Buzzcoc…

Cake's colorful cross-genre take on 1990s alt-rock produced a couple of radio hits (including a cover of Donna Summer's "I Will Survive"), and filled a void on the charts left by Camper Van Beethoven and They Might Be Giants. The Bay Area ensemble's …

Along with such peers as Tonic and Matchbox Twenty, San Francisco's Third Eye Blind broke through at a crucial juncture in the '90s music scene. In between the twilight of grunge (from which they took some influence) and the ascendancy of nu-metal, T…

Weezer's 1994 debut yielded the band two big hit singles in "Buddy Holly" and "Undone - The Sweater Song," whose quirky appeal gave the initial impression that the group was some kind of novelty act. Despite the wiseacre veneer though, Weezer went on…

Unbeknownst to most Nirvana fans, drummer David Grohl was also a singer/guitarist/songwriter who wrote numerous songs on his own during his tenure with the band. After Kurt Cobain's death in 1994, Grohl decided to head out on his own and formed the F…

Part Cyndi Lauper and part Madness, No Doubt came out of nowhere in 1995 and exploded on the alt-rock scene with their special brand of mainstream ska-rock. While the focal point of the group was unmistakably the sexy and hyperactive singer Gwen Stef…

Inspired by funk, reggae, and heavy rock, not to mention the rap-rock innovations of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, 311 formed in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1990. They toured relentlessly, releasing several albums before getting their big break in 1996 with the…

NOFX formed in 1983, but these goofy California punk rockers didn't make their first full-length album until 1988, when Bad Religion's Brett Gurewitz offered to record the band. More musically adventurous than many of their peers, NOFX and their humo…

Most alternative rock of the 1990s was based around purging one's demons over a wall of distorted power chords, but bands like Barenaked Ladies showed that tunefulness and carefree pop ditties weren't completely extinct. Hailing from Canada, this pur…

This young US alternative rock band was formed and subsequently signed by RCA Records while guitarist Jon Siebels (b. 28 August 1979, La Crescenta, California, USA) and bass player Max Collins (b. 27 August 1978, La Crescenta, California, USA) were s…

From Boston, Massachusetts, USA, the Dropkick Murphys, (their name taken from a local rehab centre) initially formed in 1996 with the sole intention of jamming punk cover versions. Original members, Mike McColgan (vocals), Ken Casey (bass), Rick Bart…